Turkey, determined to have its own nuclear power plant, aims to build "at least 23 nuclear units by the year 2023," said Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz on Tuesday.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum held in Istanbul, the minister said the ambitious plan involves "establishing nuclear power plants in three regions of Turkey."

Yildiz went on to say "we are a country without a nuclear power plant. However, we are determined to have nuclear power plants."

He said that the number of nuclear power plants in the world exceeded 440 and that while nuclear power plants involve risks, they also offer many opportunities.

At least half of all the nuclear power plants are located in three countries, namely United States, France and Japan, he said. "We can relate a country's development to the number of nuclear power plants it operates."

"We can see that accidents as in Fukushima do not affect decisions to have and operate nuclear power plants," Yildiz noted.

The World Economic Forum on Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia kicked off here Tuesday and will last for two days.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among the leaders attending the meeting who come from some 70 countries.